>-----Original Message-----
>From: Rob Wultsch [mailto:wultsch@stripped]
>Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 2:57 PM
>To: Martin Gainty
>Cc: jerry@stripped; keithclark@stripped; claudio.nanni@stripped;
>alba.albetti@stripped; mysql@stripped
>Subject: Re: How to become a DBA on MySQL
>
>I very much disagree with the suggestion that any sort of training is
>needed or useful.
>
>The fastest way (IMHO) to gain the knowledge to become a solid MySQL
>DBA is to answer questions on #mysql and to read planet mysql.
>
[JS] That depends upon where you are on the learning curve.
- If you have experience with designing and managing other databases, you are
correct.
- If, on the other hand, you are starting from scratch you'll find many of the
concepts bewildering.
- Even if you have been programming with databases, you might have been
completely isolated from the actual database design and management process.
This is particularly true in large, compartmentalized organizations where the
existing DBAs might not have a clue about programming and the programmers
might not have any clue where the data really comes from. I've observed such
setups in some of my larger clients, where the programmers were not allowed to
construct their own queries.
- A lot of people don't have a suitable test environment. Where I currently
work, my predecessor had no test or development environment at all. He made
all of his changes directly to the production code.
- You might have inherited such a mess that the very idea of "managing" the
database is overwhelming. (See above.)
I've been programming since 1966, and managing databases since before SQL was
a gleam in anybody's eye, and I still prefer to start with a "first steps for
little feet" introduction even if it only takes a couple of hours for me to
blow through it. This is especially true since actual documentation has become
almost a lost art.
Regards,
Jerry Schwartz
Global Information Incorporated
195 Farmington Ave.
Farmington, CT 06032
860.674.8796 / FAX: 860.674.8341
E-mail: jerry@stripped
Web site: www.the-infoshop.com
